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Good Morning Blacksburg,
Monday wakes up at a chilly 37 degrees and climbs to a partly cloudy 69, the kind of crisp fall morning that turns into a jacket-optional afternoon. The weekend is in the books: he Hokies just stunned Clemson on the road, and it is a big council week across the NRV.
In today’s Blacksburg Connect
🏛️ Council week: three meetings, including a land sale
🏈 Hokies stun Clemson, and Lane Stadium is sold out for the Commonwealth Clash
☕ Baan Coffee opens in Christiansburg
🏃 Tech hosts the ACC Cross Country Championships Friday
🎃 Special Sneak Peek: Plan for Halloween Activities: Thu Oct 29 – Sun Nov 1 🎃
Let’s get to it.
Monday, October 26
🛒 Mobile Marketplace
2-4pm, 2603 Warm Hearth Dr, Blacksburg. Feeding Southwest Virginia's mobile market brings fresh, convenient, affordable food to the community. Debit, credit, and SNAP/EBT accepted, and Virginia Fresh Match takes an extra 50% off fresh produce for SNAP users.
🎤 Live! The Megan Duffy Show
5-7pm, University Club of Virginia Tech, 185 Beamer Way. A live podcast recording with Jake Lyman; tickets via Eventbrite.
🎵 New River Voices Choral Society: new rehearsal home
Weekly rehearsals move to Our Saviour Lutheran Church, 1845 Cambria St NE, Christiansburg, Mondays 7-8:30pm starting today. The community choir is inviting new singers of all ages and backgrounds; no audition required.
🏛️ Montgomery County Board of Supervisors, 7:15pm, Montgomery County Government Center, 755 Roanoke St, Christiansburg. The Fotheringay rezoning stays off the agenda; the new public hearing is set for Nov 10. county calendar
Tuesday, October 27
🏛️ Blacksburg Town Council, 6:30pm. The regular meeting carries a charter-boundary public hearing, and residents who organized around community dialogue sessions plan to present the case for removing the town's 10 surveillance cameras, asking supporters to show up. organizing post
🏛️ Christiansburg Town Council, 7pm. The agenda carries the public hearing on the sale of 5.335 acres at Huckleberry Park plus a Conditional Use Permit request from Tow 360 LLC for a towing service at 492 Kiwanis Lane SE. As of Friday afternoon the agenda packet still had not posted, even though it usually appears the Friday before. town archive
🧠 Trivia Night @ 540 Social
7:30pm, 125 N Main St, Blacksburg. Test your knowledge every Tuesday: free to play, prizes, food and drinks, and the winning team of each round scores free game cards.
📚 Halloween Storytime
6-7pm, Radford Public Library. The annual costume storytime: spooky picture books and candy afterwards.
🎃 Blacksburg Ward Trunk or Treat / Festival
6-7:30pm, 510 Porter Street, Blacksburg.
Wednesday, October 28
🛒 Blacksburg Farmer's Market | Wednesday Market
2-6pm, Market Square Park, Blacksburg. The year-round, producer-only market with vendors from within 50 miles: seasonal produce, meats, baked goods, cheese, and handmade crafts.
📖 Author event: Erika Meitner at Blacksburg Books
7pm, Blacksburg Books. The award-winning poet reads from her seventh collection, Assembled Audience.
🌍 "Find Common Ground" panel at the Lyric (Facebook post)
Doors and tabling 5:30pm, panel 6-8:30pm, The Lyric Theatre, 135 College Ave, Blacksburg. A panel on surveillance cameras, AI data centers, fossil fuel infrastructure, pipelines, and community organizing, with panelists including a criminology professor and a POWHR Coalition representative.
🌍 Talk: "The Heart of Havana" and Juan de Marcos and the Afro-Cuban All Stars
Moss Arts Center / Center for the Arts, Virginia Tech. Free pre-show talk 6:30pm; concert 7:30-9pm ($25-60, $10 students and youth). (world)
🎨 Paint and Swim 5:30-8pm, Christiansburg Aquatic Center (pre-register by Oct 26 at 4pm); 🎃 2026 Inside Trunk-R-Treat 6-8pm, Prices Fork Grange Hall.
🏛️ Council week: three meetings, a land sale, and a packet that finally posted
It is a busy week in local government. The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors meets Monday at 7:15pm at the Government Center in Christiansburg; the Fotheringay rezoning stays off the agenda, with the new public hearing set for Nov 10. county calendar
On Tuesday, two councils meet at once. Blacksburg Town Council meets at 6:30pm with a charter-boundary public hearing on the agenda, and residents who organized around community dialogue sessions plan to present the case for removing the town's 10 surveillance cameras, asking supporters to show up. organizing post
Christiansburg Town Council meets Tuesday at 7pm, and its agenda carries two public hearings: a Conditional Use Permit request from Tow 360 LLC for a towing service on about 4.396 acres at 492 Kiwanis Lane SE, which the Planning Commission voted 5-0, with 1 abstention, on Sept 28 to recommend approving with conditions (including a 6-foot screening fence around vehicle storage and a 90-day limit on keeping towed vehicles on site), and the public hearing on the sale of 5.335 acres at Huckleberry Park, at Peppers Ferry Road NW and Booker T. Washington Parkway NW (New Lots 2 and 3), followed by a resolution to authorize the conveyance. Also on the agenda: an ordinance adopting a revised Comprehensive Plan and the Community Support Grant process. town archive
Also on the town calendar: the Emergency Services Committee meets Monday at 5:30pm and the Central Business District Committee meets Tuesday at 5pm.
🏈 Hokies stun Clemson, and Lane Stadium is sold out for the Commonwealth Clash
The Hokies stunned Clemson 20-16 on Saturday night in Death Valley. Tech led 10-3 at halftime, trailed 16-10 in the third, then scored the final 10 points, capped by Ethan Grunkemeyer's touchdown pass to Luke Reynolds on fourth-and-1 from the Clemson 5 with 1:44 left. It’s the Hokies’ first win over Clemson since 2007, ending a seven-game losing streak in the series, and makes them bowl-eligible at 6-2 (3-2 ACC) in Franklin’s first season. Grunkemeyer took a season-high six sacks, so the defense carries the story. Tech has an open date Oct. 31, then plays SMU in Dallas on Nov. 6.
Virginia Tech also announced Thursday the Nov 28 regular-season finale at Lane Stadium, is officially sold out. The Smithfield Commonwealth Clash doubles as Senior Day and a Maroon Effect game, and the sellout makes it six sellouts in six home games this season.
☕ Baan Coffee opens in Christiansburg
Downtown Christiansburg has a new coffee shop, and it had a full house for its first day. Baan Coffee and Thai Tea opened Sunday at 35 W Main St, serving specialty roasted coffee and Thai tea.
Baan means "home" in Thai, and the shop leans into that: owner Kanitta's vision was a space celebrating her roots and the origin of her coffee beans, including a mural by local scenic designer Rachel Langley depicting the coffee fields of Thailand. Downtown Christiansburg Inc. welcomed the shop as a return of coffee to downtown, with plenty of parking behind the building.
Regular hours start today: weekdays 7am to 2pm, weekends 8am to 3pm.
baancoffee.com | Instagram @baancoffeeva
🏃 Tech hosts the ACC Cross Country Championships Friday
Virginia Tech hosts the 2026 ACC Cross Country Championships on Friday, Oct 30 at the Buford Meredith Cross Country Course, the first time Tech has hosted since 2019. The men's 8K starts at 10am, followed by the women's 6K at 11am. The Hokies head into the postseason hot, having swept the Panorama Farms Invitational to close the regular season, with both squads winning their fourth straight team event.
Trail note for the week: starting Wednesday, Oct 28, mulch goes down on a section of the Campus Trail adjacent to the Huckleberry Trail to support the championship course, with impacts through Nov 2. Signs will be posted ahead of the area. Map of the affected section (Town of Blacksburg notice, Oct 23).
📰 News Around the NRV
🏈 Christiansburg football beats Blacksburg 31-24. Friday night's rivalry final ends Blacksburg's three-game win streak. (Also nearby: Carroll County 26, Radford 23.) scores
🏐 Christiansburg volleyball tops Blacksburg, claims River Ridge regular-season title. Christiansburg beat Blacksburg 3-1 on Thu Oct 22; Avery Webb set the program's single-season digs record. schedule
📌 Community Board
🚧 VDOT watch. The Oct 23-30 Salem District traffic alert has now posted. Montgomery County items: Route 460 eastbound slope repairs in Christiansburg begin Monday night, Oct 26 (concrete barrier wall plus right-lane closure between exits 3A and 2, through Nov 13); a Route 8 widening and pedestrian project in Riner begins (night single-lane closures with an intermittent detour via Five Points Road, 10pm-7am, through summer 2028); Prices Fork Road and Peppers Ferry Road intersection work continues (lane closures and flagging 9am-3pm and 6pm-7am, through late 2027); I-81 exit 105 New River Bridge work continues (night closures 8pm-6am, 60 mph zone, through summer 2027). VDOT alert
🦃 Bull & Bones Thanksgiving catering. Orders are due Sat Nov 21, pickup Wed Nov 25 from 12-6pm at the Blacksburg location. Smoked turkey $75; combos $32-45 per person; pies and more. post
🎁 Volunteer Montgomery October Supply Drive. Still collecting new, unopened items (clothing, toiletries, snacks, craft supplies) in partnership with the VA Center for Development and Civic Engagement. Drop off at the Volunteer Montgomery office, 210 Pepper St, Christiansburg, by Oct 30. post
🎃 Also Special Sneak Peek: Mark your calendar for Halloween Activities: Thu Oct 29 – Sun Nov 1 🎃
Thursday, Oct 29
🐕 Center for the Barks Howl-o-ween Dog Parade 5:30-6:30pm, Patricia Buckley Moss Lawn (free outdoor dog parade, costume contest)
🎬 The Rocky Horror Picture Show at The Lyric Theatre 10pm (Late Night Horror Series with Tolls of Madness shadow cast, theme "Tim & Dolly")
Friday, Oct 30
🎃 Town Hall-oween & Treat Trail 3-7pm, Christiansburg
🎃 Trick-or-Treat at the Government Center 3:30-5pm, 755 Roanoke St (free)
🎃 WHV 6th Annual Trick-or-Treat Trail 3:30-6pm, Warm Hearth Village (petting zoo, hay ride, Little Goblin Costume Contest 5pm)
⚽ Virginia Tech Men's Soccer vs. Syracuse 5pm, Thompson Field (free)
🎃 Shatterfest: Metal Halloween Festival at the Milk Parlor
Saturday, Oct 31
🎃 Getting Scary on the Huckleberry 8:45-11:30am, Christiansburg Recreation Center (free kids fun run at 8:45am, $30 5K run/walk right after, truck-or-treat 9-11:30am, costume contest, pumpkin pancakes for race participants)
🎃 Downtown Trick or Treat 1-4pm, Draper & College Ave (pet costume contest 3pm, human costume contest 3:30pm across from the Lyric)
🎭 Halloween Murder Mystery at JH Bards Spirit Co. 2-5pm, 213 Draper Road SW (adults-only whodunnit)
📚 Sixth Annual Spooky Book Fair 4-8pm, Moon Hollow Brewing, 4237 Prices Fork Road (spooky books, tarot readings, raffles, costume contests)
🎃 New River Valley Renaissance Festival Sat-Sun, 10am-5pm, Beliveau Farm Winery ($30, kids 6-12 $9, under 5 free; falconry demos Sat, aerial acrobatics and stilt-walkers Sun)
🏃 Brush Mountain Breakdown Trail Race Pandapas (12-mile, 7-mile, 5K)
🚵 Rowdy Dawg Mountain Bike Race Pandapas Pond / Poverty Creek trails (beginner, cross-country, and extended courses)
🎤 Macado's in Radford's annual karaoke Halloween costume contest, with $0.50 unbreaded boneless wings that day
Sunday, Nov 1
🎼 Virginia Tech Soloist Competition Final Round Recital 4-6pm (classical)
🎃 New River Valley Renaissance Festival day 2, 10am-5pm, Beliveau Farm Winery
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